The Drift Indy Virtual crew headed (virtually, of course) to Japan’s legendary Meihan Sportsland Jan. 31 for the first round of this season’s competition series. We’ve hosted offseason virtual comps in past seasons, but this year we’ve stepped things up a notch and are proud to have partnered with our friends at Vyral to bring those signature Drift Indy party vibes to the world of sim drifting.
The first two rounds of the series will serve as qualifying rounds for a final, in-person event at the Vyral Compound in Dayton. The top 8 from each qualifier will make up a top-16 bracket for the final round, with awards for podium finishers at all three rounds. A sick, DI-styled gaming PC built by Vyral is on the line for the winner of the final round.
The grid of 32 drivers for the first round was a diverse one, comprised of both real-life and virtual shredders and quite the age range, including 10-year-old Andrew Meyer. That dude is gonna be an absolute killer once he’s old enough to get behind the wheel for real. It’s crazy to think that we’ve got games and peripherals so advanced that they can translate so well into real-world driving techniques. You can rag on “sim nerds” as much as you want, but when dudes like Cash Staub and Joey Ritter preach the value of practicing on their sim rigs it’s impossible not to admit that the experience is valuable. Plus, it’s fun as hell.
Anyways, this first round of the series got kicked off with Edgar Sarmiento and Shawn Allgood hosting live from Vyral’s livestreaming room. The comp followed the usual battle format, and our randomly-assigned top 32 seeds set up some interesting matchups, including one between Virtual Crew Drift Team teammates Skyler Wainscott and Justin Parsons.
It didn’t take long for the competition to heat up, and our first One More Time call of the night came in just the third battle between Mike Magyar and Colin Stava. They were glued to each other’s door for both runs and both did a solid job filling their zones. After running it back, Colin had just enough added spice to get the nod.
The first of several big crashes came a little later when Zach Knauer and Dominic Moya matched up. Dominic went into the tire wall hard after initiation, creating one of those iconic, glitchy Assetto Corsa crashes. All the comedians in the live chat were quick to ask “did he die?” and “does that hurt the car?” They went OMT too after Zach found his way into some tires in his own lead. They both cleaned it up for their next two runs and Zach advanced to the top 16.
Moving along to the right side of the bracket, the aforementioned VCD matchup was exciting, but a little chop and straighten from Skyler in his paired with confident, clean runs from Justin moved Justin along to the next battle.
Our next battle of the night had young Andrew Meyer taking on Bobby’s Crew member Steve Scherzer. The kid put on a killer performance, but Steve opened up a big gap in his chase run that combined with his super solid chase to put an early end to Andrew’s night. The kid can wheel, though, and it’ll be exciting to see him back for Round 2.
One of the funnier moments in the comp came in the first half of the battle between Tyler Klocke and Josh Waldie when Josh plowed straight into the tires on initiation in the chase. His girlfriend popped into the YouTube chat to let us all know his wheel had fallen off the rig. Another crash from him in his lead gave Tyler the dub.
A few more battles rounded out a solid Top 32 and sent us into a Top 16 with a bunch more killer matchups. One of the best battles of the night came between Paul Mox and Logan Scalf. Both dudes were throwing tons of angle and stayed glued together. After the first two runs were too close to call they went OMT and Paul cleaned up a couple spots, throwing down two great laps and advancing to the Top 8.
Steve Scherzer and Tyler Smith had a heater of a battle too, but spectators and our commentary team seemed a little surprised when Tyler was the unanimous choice. From the judges’ booth, though, you were able to see Steve get into the wall on his initiation in his lead run, throwing Tyler off. The camera angle on the livestream was just a little wrong to catch that. It was a great battle nonetheless.
With the Top 16 wrapped up, our Top 8 qualifying drivers were Kody Frame, Colin Stava, Josh Eckert, Paul Mox, Brad Johnson, Tyler Smith, Tyler Klocke and Jason Coté. They’ll form half of the final round’s Top 16.
The Top 8 picked up the excitement right where it left off, giving us our first three-way split decision of the night in the battle between Kody and Colin. After two super solid runs, one judge went Kody’s way, one went Colin’s and one called for a OMT. They ran it back, but a solid lead and killer chase from Kody gave him the nod.
Paul Mox and Josh Eckert lined it up next, putting down an exciting first run with Josh in the lead and Paul doing a great job mirroring in the chase. Josh got a tad overzealous in his own chase run, though, getting into Paul’s door a little too heavy and shunting him out of drift. Paul moved on.
The next battle between Brad Johnson and Tyler Smith started off spicy, with Tyler putting down one of the most exciting chase performances of the night. Edgar put it nicely, saying “let’s call it what it is: Brad’s consistent so somebody’s gotta apply some pressure, and Tyler Smith is gonna be your man to do it.” Unfortunately for Tyler, he applied just a tad too much pressure to the ‘ol skinny pedal in his lead run and took turn one super wide. Brad’s consistency paid off, moving him along to the semifinals.
Tyler Klocke and Jason Coté rounded off our Top 8 with another matchup between two super solid drivers. A little over-rotation from Jason in his lead run combined with textbook, consistent runs from Tyler to move Mr. Klocke on to the semis.
Kody Frame and Paul Mox kicked off the semifinals with a little bit of uncharacteristic sloppiness from both of them that led to a OMT call. They knew they needed to clean things up a little, and Kody did just that, putting down a near-perfect lead lap and great chase lap, earning himself a spot in the finals.
Tyler Klocke and Brad Johnson also seemed to have a little case of the jitters, putting together a slightly sloppy, but overall fun to watch, battle. They also went to a OMT that was still super close after their first run. In the second run, though, Tyler pushed a little too hard in the lead and put it into the tires, sending Brad to the finals.
Our third place battle between Tyler Klocke and Paul Mox was yet another great matchup, and neither of them displayed much of the sloppiness from their semifinal battles. A late initiation from Tyler in his chase run was enough to give Paul the dub and earn him third overall on the night. A pretty good result for somebody that almost didn’t participate, thanks to his lady requesting that he run some errands with her instead.
Our final battle of the night kicked off with Kody Frame in the lead and Brad Johnson chasing. Kody killed it up front, filling every zone and hitting that inner clip on turn one nicely, but Brad stayed with him nicely, putting together a solid chase. It would prove not to be solid enough, though, as Kody was absolutely glued to his door in the second run. Kody got the unanimous decision and earned himself a hard-fought first place on the night.
Round 2 will go live on YouTube at 8pm on Friday, Feb. 28. We’ll be travelling (virtually, sadly) to Ebisu’s Minami course to give another batch of 32 drivers the chance to battle their way into the final round’s Top 16.
